Inside Ping’s ridiculously fast i525 iron that’s making waves on Tour

Ping’s new i525 iron is ridiculously fast. But instead of simply cranking up the ball speed with the i525, Ping focused on fine-tuning the acoustics as well, giving the new line a combo of distance and sound that’s been difficult to create in recent years.

In the previous iteration of the i-Series, a hollow cavity backed a maraging steel face. Maraging steel is stronger than both stainless and carbon steel, so it can be made thinner to boost ball speed. That’s a good thing, yet the combo negatively affected the acoustics.

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To solve the problem in the i525, Ping placed four grams of EVA polymer behind the face and in the heel to achieve a more pleasing sound and feel. The improvement has already been a positive for Ping’s Tour staff, including Cameron Champ. During testing, the quieter acoustics played a key role in his decision to switch from i500 (4-iron) to i525 (3-UW; $1,499 per set; pinggolf.com).

While the polymer helps tune sound, it doesn’t affect the overall performance of the maraging steel face due, in large part, to an internal sole undercut that increases overall face flex for more ball speed and — bonus — a higher launch angle.

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